It was towards the end of 1984 that my good friend and neighbour George Hallums told me that he had been asked to lead a newly formed orchestra in Wymondham and invited me to join him – I didn’t need a second invitation! – this started as Wymondham Community Orchestra – we got off to a flying start with Kenneth Ian Hytch as our inspirational Musical Director – we soon got into a pattern of putting on 3 or more concerts a year, both in Wymondham and in other parts of the county.
It was a huge stroke of luck that George’s wife Shirley was the Director of the Octagon Singers and, as our orchestra grew and developed, we became Wymondham Symphony Orchestra (“South Norfolk’s premier orchestra”) - in June 1992, we were able to join with an augmented choir (the Verdi choir) to put on a Verdi Requiem in Norwich Cathedral – what a thrilling start for a new orchestra! – this was followed by performances of other major choral works, as well as accompanying Norfolk Opera Society in performances of Carmen and La Traviata in the Theatre Royal.
And we had another massive stroke of luck when the internationally famous composer, Sir Malcolm Arnold agreed to become our Patron – Malcolm was a charismatic, larger than life character, with an extraordinary reputation – and he was also the most committed and supportive of Patrons – he used to come to all our concerts as well as many of our rehearsals – on one unforgettable occasion, the orchestra was asked to play in Norwich, on the banks of the river Wensum, to accompany the Lord Mayor’s River Inspection – in failing light, and undeterred by slowly collapsing staging, we played on as the Lord Mayor sailed by, inspired by Malcolm’s vigorous conducting, with his baton waving continuing even after we had actually finished playing his piece!
In 2003, we were delighted to appoint Andrew Parnell as our new Musical Director, who has taken the orchestra forward with a series of themed concerts (the Italian Job, French Connections, Northern Lights, Love is in the Air, etc), as well as taking us to new musical heights with pieces we hadn’t dared perform previously (Enigma Variations, Firebird Suite) – he has ensured that the orchestra will continue to grow and develop long into the future.
I’ve played in the orchestra since its inception and was honoured to be Leader for 5 years – this was at a time when my work with Norfolk Social Services could be extremely stressful – on Tuesdays, I would sometimes get home from work feeling that it was just too much to go to rehearsal – but I never didn’t go – and, within a few minutes, all work stresses were forgotten as I joined with friends for an evening of joyful music making – indeed, I always called our Tuesday evening rehearsals my weekly therapy sessions – a life saver, for which I’ll always be truly grateful.
More details about the orchestra can be found at www.wymondhamsymphonyorchestra.org.uk or on our Facebook page.
